This year, the ATP organizers shuffled up the clay court schedule.

Historically, it was Monte Carlo, then an ATP 250 event (or events), then Rome, then more ATP 250 events, then Hamburg, then ATP 250 events, then the French Open.  Hamburg was demoted and Madrid converted from an indoor tournament to a clay event.

Players complained Madrid was played in altitude and messed their games up so close to the French Open, so Madrid was put in the middle this year.

Furthermore, they decided to play Madrid and Rome in back-to-back weeks.

This is therefore the second of two weeks of ATP 250 events.  The only top 4 player playing is Novak Djokovic.

Let’s start with Belgrade.  In its third year of existence, Djokovic has claimed the title for a second time.  He might have been 3 time champ had allergies (possibly due to gluten in his diet) not derailed his effort last year when he lost to young Serb, Krajinovic.  Djokovic had a tough first set against Feliciano Lopez winning comfortably in the tiebreak, but requiring a tiebreak nonetheless.  He then won 6-2 in the second to continue his unbeaten 2011 streak.

Juan Martin del Potro has won his second title of the year, which is, well, two titles more than Andy Murray.  He beat Verdasco handily 6-2, 6-2.  del Potro has won by being fairly steady.  It’s hard to hit a shot to Delpo that he can’t get back at least moderately safely.  Because of this, he can wait to attack and use his formidable forehand.  Surprisingly, Delpo won many points with Verdasco errors.  To be fair, Verdasco makes lots of errors.  Verdasco can’t be too unhappy as he’s had a losing streak of sorts.  Reaching the final may help his confidence.

And speaking of confidence builders, Nikolay Davydenko won his first title this year in Munich, beating local Florian Mayer in 3 sets.  Davydenko had been struggling to win matches, and a second set loss to Mayer had to worry Davydenko some, but he came back strong taking the third set, 6-1.  Will he be a surprise at the French?

Next week begins the business end of the clay court season with Madrid, then Rome the following week.  Fed, Nadal, Murray start playing again too, and the big question remains, can Djokovic continue his win streak.  Masters 1000 events often pits the top players against someone tough right off the bat (since they get byes).

So until then, allez tennis!